Travel Agency Still Afloat, Begins Refunding Money

January 7, 1992|By MARIA ELENA FERNANDEZ, Staff Writer

Royal American Holidays, the Coral Springs travel agency that closed for New Year`s week without booking SeaEscape cruises for 250 passengers who had paid for their trips, reopened on Monday and began distributing refunds.

Vice President Ted Dobosz said there was an internal problem within the 8- year-old agency regarding the payments for the cruises. The agency, he said, closed last week because ``it`s a slow time of year for us.``

``The president (George Gore) is responsible for signing checks and he had a personal emergency, so the checks were not sent in a timely manner to the ship,`` Dobosz said. ``Because we were closed for New Year`s, and by the time we learned about the problem, it was too late to solve the problem.``

When the passengers, who had learned of Royal American`s package deals to the Bahamas through newspaper ads, arrived at the SeaEscape terminal on Dec. 30, they found their trips had not been reserved and their money had disappeared.

A number of the vacationers paid a second time so they could take the trips.

But Dobosz said on Monday that the situation is being straightened out.

``We sent a port representative to make sure the ship is paid for, and we`ve been contacting people who have already returned to their hometowns, and some people have been in the office today,`` Dobosz said.

``We`ve been in touch with the various hotels in the Bahamas that were involved and we`re doing everything we can to resolve it and give refunds back to those who paid for the trips again. Passengers traveling currently aren`t experiencing any problems,`` he said.

SeaEscape sales manager Michelle Parker said she knew of 31 people who had received refunds.